


i wish i had a river i could skate away on

by scagnetism



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Ice Skating, M/M, Tooth Rotting Fluff, Winter, all the winter fluff, cuddling under the stars, so much winter fluff, zayn is only mentioned briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 16:13:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2658314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scagnetism/pseuds/scagnetism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even though the snow is falling down around them, cold biting their cheeks and noses, Harry can’t remember the last time he felt so warm.  Warm all over because of this day, because of Louis, because of his freedom.  He wants to wrap this day up in a little box to visit whenever he’s sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i wish i had a river i could skate away on

**Author's Note:**

> You can never have too much winter fluff, can you? So that's what this is. Mass amounts of winter fluff. It's supposed to be canon compliant, and it mostly is, except for my own sanity, they're in New York City for promo.
> 
> Title taken from River by Joni Mitchell.

Sometimes, Harry feels trapped.

It’s not that he doesn’t like his life because he does, and he wouldn’t change anything, not really, but sometimes it gets to be too much. Sometimes it feels like the weight of the world is pressing down on his shoulders and there’s nothing he can do to escape. Worst of all, sometimes it feels like he’s watching his entire life pass him by through the window, and he’s not even allowed to live it. He handles it better some days than others. He knows that the other boys understand the feeling – Louis especially – and he’s thankful that he’ll never be alone, but it doesn’t make things any _easier._

He knows Louis really understands when they’re tangled in hotel sheets and he’s tracing patterns on his skin, whispering assurances that soon they’ll be tucked away in their own house, in their own bed preparing everything for Christmas. Louis plants gentle kisses down his jaw line and tells him again and again that they’ll be done with promo soon and can have some time to just _be_.

And logically, Harry knows this. But he wants his freedom now.

*

It’s Zayn that catches Harry googling snowy getaways. When Harry feels Zayn’s eyes over his shoulder, he almost wants to slam his laptop shut to keep it all a secret, but when he turns, Zayn is smiling. He slings his arm around Harry’s shoulders and says softly, “Think you really have time for that right now?” 

Harry just shrugs helplessly. “Just a day or a few hours or summat would help me not feel so trapped.” He clears his throat a little before adding, “I hope they’d let Lou and me get away.”

Zayn nods, patting his shoulder in agreement. “Don’t I know the feeling, mate.”

“Ice skating sounds good,” Harry mumbles, and he feels Zayn nod against him before pulling away.

“Just don’t fall and hurt yourself, yeah? We still need you.”

Harry throws the nearest pillow at his head. “Wanker.”

*

Harry decides on the Poconos. From everything he’s researched, it seems like the perfect day trip – it’s not too far out of New York City, so it’s perfect driving distance, and bits and pieces of it seem so secluded. He hasn’t told Louis this is what they’re doing, but he tells him to make sure he has the warmest of his winter clothes packed up, and if he doesn’t have all the necessary winter things with him, he needs to go buy them.

Harry can’t help but laugh at the confused look that comes over Louis’ face when Paul shows up at their hotel room carrying two boxes of ice skates while wearing a knowing grin. Paul, of course, is in on the plan, and brought back one pair for each of them. Louis may quirk an eyebrow at the gesture, but he accepts the boxes without question and only a tiny shake of his head.

Harry cleared the trip with everyone, and he and Louis are allowed to escape for one day. They’re not staying overnight – the two of them staying at a resort seems too risky even though it’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s still better than nothing. The prospect of a winter adventure is exciting to Harry, and by the time they finish their final interview, he’s ready to go.

“Where are we going tomorrow?” Louis asks Harry in bed, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand. “You know I bloody hate surprises, Harold. And cold. I _really_ hate cold.”

“I promise you’ll love this, Lewis.” Louis sticks out his lower lip into a pout, and Harry shakes his head. “Not gonna work. Not telling you what I have up my sleeve.” He plants a kiss to Louis’ temple. “Now go to sleep. We’ve gotta be up at the ass crack of dawn to get on the road.”

“Ah, so poetic of you.”

“Shut up and go to sleep.”

Louis laughs into his shoulder.

*

“You sure you know where we’re going, love?” Louis asks gently, fingers curled around a thermos of tea. There’s a soft scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, and he looks so soft and lovely, and Harry wants to kiss him.

But he can’t do that because Louis will never forgive him if they get lost _again_ because of him. He’s gotten them lost one too many times before even with the help of a GPS, so he knows Louis is really only looking out for their safety. Louis told him time and time again he’d drive, but then that would’ve ruined the surprise, and Harry wasn’t about to do that.

“We’re almost there,” Harry assures, and at least he thinks so. All the mountains and trees and snow are starting to blend in together, but the GPS hasn’t told him to reroute yet, so he thinks that’s a good sign. “See?” He points toward a sign. “That’s our turn.”

Louis smiles fondly, just a small quirk of his lips, and says, “If you’re sure.”

Harry follows the bend of the road, taking a few moments to admire the fluffy flakes gently floating from the sky, and Louis seems to be doing the same. “’S pretty,” he says absently.

“I told you that you’d like it,” Harry tells him knowingly, looking at him with a dimpled grin.

When they reach the end of the road, Harry’s sure they’re in the right place, but Louis stares out the window blankly. There’s still a bit of a walk from where they have to park the car, and as much as Harry knows that will annoy Louis, it will be worth it. He knows they couldn’t go anywhere that would cause them to be seen, so after some _very_ in depth research and a few phone calls, he found out about a small pond that freezes over, set in a small clearing in the woods.

“You didn’t say there’d be a hike involved,” Louis grumbles, grabbing his tea and getting out of the car, shivering as the cold hits his skin.

“It’ll be worth it!” Harry assures again, getting the bag he brought out of the backseat of the car and handing the ice skates to Louis. “I’m sure you can guess we’re going ice skating.”

“Pretty sure there was a rink by the hotel. Didn’t need to take me out in the middle of nowhere to get your ice skating fix.”

Harry rolls his eyes and ignores Louis’ huff as they start the trek through the powdery snow. Something about the cold on his face makes Harry feel alive, and Louis looks so beautiful with snowflakes covering his long eyelashes. After a few more moments, Louis tugs his beanie down further over his ears, letting out a groan. “It’s so cold.”

“But it’ll be – ”

“If you say it’ll be worth it one more bloody time, Harold…”

Harry just laughs and pretends to zip his lips and throw away the key. It only takes another few minutes before they’re standing at the clearing with the pond in front of them. It’s breathtakingly beautiful – the branches of the trees are snow covered and sparkling in the sun, the ice is glistening, and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Harry looks over at Louis, who’s standing openmouthed as he takes in the sight before them. “Oh my god.”

“I told you, didn’t I?” Harry says, nudging him gently with an elbow to the side.

“How did you even manage…” Louis lets his thought breathlessly trail off before he turns to Harry for the answer.

He shrugs, wanting to come off more effortless than he really was. “I wanted to do something special, and I know we get to go home for Christmas soon, but I needed a break before then, yeah? And this looked so beautiful, and I had to pull a few strings and everything, but – ”

A gentle kiss on the lips cuts him off. “It’s perfect, Haz. Thank you.”

Harry grins, dusting his glove covered hand over Louis’ cheek. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

*

After a few hours of ice skating and lots of laughter, they’re curled up in the blanket that Harry brought drinking hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

(“You know I’m terrible at ice skating,” Louis had warned, tentatively stepping onto the ice as he watched Harry excitedly twirl and tilt his face to the sky, basking in the bit of sun.

“And that’s fine,” Harry had replied, skating over to grab Louis’ hands, “because I’m really great. We balance each other out.” That thought was punctuated with a kiss to his nose, and Harry wanted to live in this moment forever.

And so it went – they did balance each other out, quite literally, as Harry wrapped a hand around Louis’ waist any time he so much as wobbled. Both of them fell a few times, landing in a heap of tangled limbs and way too loud laughter. And if there were a few pictures of them lying in said heap on Harry’s phone, no one but the two of them had to know. Harry was determined to try a triple axel, but Louis had insisted he stop because he didn’t know where the nearest hospital was. Just in case, of course.

Harry had been convinced that he was going to teach Louis some really cool tricks like how to skate backwards, but once he realized keeping Louis upright was a surprisingly difficult feat, he figured that could probably wait until sometime later. Louis seemed pretty thankful.)

“I can’t thank you enough for this,” Louis says softly, leaning his head against Harry’s shoulder. Even though the snow is falling down around them, cold biting their cheeks and noses, Harry can’t remember the last time he felt so _warm._ Warm all over because of this day, because of Louis, because of his freedom. He wants to wrap this day up in a little box to visit whenever he’s sad.

“’S nothing,” he murmurs into Louis’ hair, beanie long discarded when he threw it in the air as the big finish to the “skating routine” he and Harry and jokingly choreographed.

Louis reaches for one of the biscuits Harry brought along with them and lets out a content hum that Harry feels rumble in his chest. “You ever wish you could, like, just skate away? From everything?”

“Yeah, a bit. It’d be nice sometimes, I think.”

They fall into a silence, and the dark is fast approaching. They can see the rosy glow of the sun dipping below the trees. “We should probably get back,” Louis says, words sounding tight in his throat.

“Not yet,” Harry tells him with a shake of his head. “We’ve gotta watch the stars. It’s so beautiful out here.”

Louis leans up to press a kiss to Harry’s cheek and nods.

Harry’s never felt the way he does with Louis with anyone else. It’s always been so easy with them, like it made perfect sense that they’re puzzle pieces. They don’t even have to speak anymore – it’s like they have their own language made up entirely of looks and touches, so when Louis nudges his hand gently, they both fall back onto the blanket and look up at the sky.

“Maybe we’ll see a shooting star,” Harry suggests as Louis shifts his head to Harry’s chest.

“Maybe,” Louis agrees, letting out a noise of contentment as he fits himself against Harry’s side. “It’s not clear like this in the city.”

It only takes a few more moments before darkness overtakes the clearing. Harry reaches for his phone, turning on the flashlight to provide them with a little more light than the moon and stars. The night is silent around them, wrapping them in a thick blanket of cold and comfort. The fact that they’re doing this, just lying in the forest with no worries and responsibilities for right now makes warmth bloom in Harry’s chest. His eyes are almost falling closed when he hears Louis whisper, “Did you see it, Haz?” 

“What?”

“The shooting star.”

“Damn, I missed it.”

Another floats across the sky – “there, another!” Louis exclaims – and Harry makes a silent wish.

*

In another hour, they’re walking toward the car with their fingers lazily entwined when Louis mumbles, “did you make a wish?”

“Yeah,” Harry answers. “You?”

“Yeah.”

“We probably can’t discuss them, though, if we want them to come true.”

He doesn’t miss the way Louis rolls his eyes.

“Oh, come on, Lou.”

“That’s just superstition,” Louis tells him, squeezing his hand tightly. “What’d you wish for?”

Harry’s face flushes slightly pinker than it has all day, and he can’t blame this on the nipping cold. “That I’d never lose you.”

It all goes quiet for a few moments as Louis pulls his hand away, adjusting the ice skates in his other hand. It’s a pleasant lull until Harry feels something cold on the back of his neck and lets out a yelp, turning around to see Louis laughing hysterically as he crafts another snowball.

“You proper sap, Styles!” Louis yells with a laugh, dropping the ice skates and running to attack Harry.

Harry throws his head back in laughter, dropping the rest of their belongings so he can make another snowball. “Watch your back, Tommo!” he shouts, throwing a snowball that hits Louis right in the chest.

“You wouldn’t!” he says with mock offense, quickly packing more snow into his hand and throwing it at Harry.

It’s an all-out snow war for a few moments until Louis throws himself at Harry and they land in a pile, faces pressed together and completely covered in snow. They’re gasping for breath as they laugh, the stars twinkling brightly above them like they’re laughing along. “Hey,” Louis whispers, wiping some snow out of Harry’s curls gently.

“Yeah?” Harry answers, feeling safe with Louis’ breath warm against his neck.

“You’re never gonna lose me.”

Harry just grins and presses a kiss to Louis’ lips.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos/comments are very much appreciated! And if you'd like, you can follow me on [tumblr](http://mytinylou.tumblr.com) and say hello! :)


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